Longman Self-Study English Dictionary (English Version)

Author: D. Summers
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: 2005-01-01
: I like the Longman series of student dictionaries because they meet the needs of readers at different levels with clear definitions, abundant examples, and beautiful illustrations. The Longman Wordwise Dictionary shares this characteristic and is designed as a student dictionary specifically for readers transitioning from beginner to intermediate levels. It focuses on explaining 2,000 key words and briefly introduces 35,000 other words, phrases, and examples, making it particularly suitable for Chinese middle school students and first-year university students. The 2,000 key words in this dictionary are selected from the Longman corpus, which contains 3 billion words, representing the most frequently used words in English. Recognizing these 2,000 key words accounts for 80% of the total word count in any text.
To cater to the specific needs of learners transitioning from beginner to intermediate levels, the compilers of the dictionary have put great effort into its design: the layout and design of the entries are clear and intuitive, with different word classes listed as separate entries, and even the different senses are presented in separate paragraphs. Each entry is tailored to the word's characteristics, featuring a grammar section to explain common structures, a phrasal verbs section to introduce common idioms and collocations, and a usage section to cover synonyms, antonyms, and common sentence patterns that beginners should master. It also includes 16 pages of color illustrations and over 300 black-and-white illustrations.
Take the verb break as an example. Break occupies two full pages (72–73), first introducing the differences between cut, tear, and break with definitions, examples, and illustrations, and cross-referencing smash and burst. Then, it dedicates most of a page to clearly explaining the three important senses of break with examples. Next, it uses a full page to introduce phrases like break a record, break the news, break someone's heart, break your promise, break loose, and break free, as well as the usage of phrasal verbs like breakdown, break in, break into, break out, breakthrough, and breakup. The following page (74) lists 27 entries, while the next page (75) uses a full page to explain the usage of bring. This demonstrates a balance between simplicity and detail.
The 2,000 key words play a significant role in English usage, but learners also need a variety of vocabulary to handle different situations. This dictionary includes a total of 35,000 words, phrases, and examples, effectively expanding learners' usage range. It is particularly noteworthy that the word selection and definitions are both practical and up-to-date, with words like microwave () and mouse () appearing frequently, even in the illustrations. One color illustration features a hi-tech room (), which is indeed innovative.
A student dictionary should be (), lively in content, and highly practical. The Longman Wordwise Dictionary achieves this. For example, the entry for bye is marked as also bye-bye and is labeled as an informal word, with the definition goodbye and an example sentence: “Bye Max! It was a nice meeting you!” Another example is the usage explanation for how. It compares the usage of “How are you?”, “How are you doing?”, and “How do you do?” through examples and clearly explains how to respond.
Such a dictionary goes far beyond simply providing definitions and has become an excellent tool for learning English. To meet the needs of learners at various levels, Longman has published a variety of student dictionaries with distinctive features, such as the Activator Dictionary, Active Study Dictionary, and Wordwise Dictionary. The name Wordwise is particularly innovative, giving readers the impression that using this dictionary will make them smarter in vocabulary usage. Perhaps translating Longman Wordwise Dictionary as 《》 (Longman Wordwise Dictionary) aligns perfectly with its original meaning!